This project focuses on offering young children in the Child Development Laboratory opportunities for engagement with the natural world and the ability to develop an ethic of care for our planet. Children will be able to spend time outdoors and in the Arcata Community Forest no matter the weather, geared up for the elements and ready to observe, interact, and develop an ethos of care for the place they call home.

The Native American Studies Department’s Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute, Cultural Fire Club, and the NAS Department are leading Returning Good Fire — an Indigenous-led rematriation project restoring cultural burns on California’s North Coast. Guided by cultural fire practitioners and Indigenous students, the project supports habitat restoration, revives culturally significant plants, conserves water, and trains future Indigenous firekeepers.